Entering the sixth year of its protest outside the Union Buildings, the Khoisan group remains steadfast in its determination.
The group that has been camping in the garden at the Union Buildings since December 5, 2018 said it remains determined in the quest for First Nation recognition and land rights.
In an interview, King KhoisanSA said the government is still reluctant to engage meaningfully after all these years.
“I think there are a lot of issues that we’ve brought forward that have left us wondering how they will resolve. The most important is recognition as the first inhabitants of South Africa but you can’t just give verbal recognition to the fact. There’s something that you have to give back which is something the government is not ready for,” he said.
“The second issue is land. The government has always advocated that it wants to return the land to the rightful owners.
We have political parties like the EFF, Black First Land First, all those parties that are propagating, saying that they want to return the land to the rightful owners but they are not the rightful owners.
The rightful owners are the Khoi and the San.”
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The protesters left Eastern Cape on November 17, 2018, and arrived at the Union Buildings on December 5, 2018.
Khoisan said they have been silenced by a lack of media attention and believed that higher powers have had a hand in putting their grievances on the back burner.
“For many South Africans, the story of the Union Buildings has been silenced because it’s been moved away from the media, no one has talked about it.
The simple reason is that if you continue telling the story, someone somewhere will get angry and say: ‘It is not justice that has been done to the First Nation people, why are you letting them stay there for such a long time?’”
Khoisan said they claim three provinces as their land – the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Western Cape though they believe they are entitled to the whole country.
With the elections coming up at the end of the month, the group said it will not vote as protest and because it doesn’t recognise the unitary government.
“We want the people to live freely in a land where whatever rules or regulations apply come from them.
Currently, the rules and regulations that we have in this land came from apartheid, it is just new leaders taking over but it is still the same rules. We are still under the apartheid regime, it’s just our brothers and sisters that have taken over which makes it worse,” said Khoisan.
“How can your own brother who has constantly talked about rectifying the injustice of apartheid continue to impose the same injustices?”
Asked about the length of their protest, Khoisan said their journey is more spiritual thus the time spent is not an issue.
“This is a spiritual journey, although we are fighting it physically. We know in a spiritual journey we will win as we are guided by many spirits. Our ancestors have guided us to this point. No normal human being in my view can take up a protest for six years and still have the same passion as when they arrived.”
The Khoisan people have been the subject of much controversy over the years:
– in 2019 they rejected the Traditional and Khoisan Leadership Act
– in 2022, the king and three of his subjects were arrested for alleged growing and dealing dagga
– in October 2022, the group walked 50km to raise the awareness of a lack of housing
– on March 13, 2023, the group received its fourth notice to vacate the space in 30 days.
Group member, Gershwin Van Niekerk, who has been at the Union Buildings for the past four years, said they also want the term coloured removed.
“It’s like you’re swearing at me. Coloured was a term given to us. Back in 1991, FW de Klerk abolished the word coloured and the K-word yet still we are called that and we’re not, we’re Khoi,” Van Niekerk said.
Van Niekerk said the government can’t remove them because it knows they stand for the truth, and have full faith in their King and cause.
At the time of publishing, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure had not responded to an inquiry by Rekord for an update on the Khoisan sit-in.
The Khoisan demands include:
– First nation recognition
– Khoisan language be made part of the official languages
– Engagement with the government over land
– Coloured identity to be scrapped
The protesters plan to expand their effort, saying that trips to local neighbourhoods like Mamelodi and Eersterust are on the horizon.
Their website, www.firstnation.org.za broadcasts their daily tales from the Union Buildings.
“People in South Africa don’t know the Khoisan people. All they know is what I learned in Grade 5: that the first people are the Khoi and San, that’s all they know.
The people of South Africa should know that the people they learnt about in their Grade 5 textbooks are still alive. Some of them have changed, they are now wearing jeans, t-shirts, and Nike tekkies but they are still the same people. These people are your brothers and sisters, Africans just like you.
When we look at the Code of Arms, the writing means ‘diverse people unite’. That’s the message from the First Nation people, all of us need to unite as Africans,” said Khoisan.
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